The past few weeks I’ve been working on renovating the kids’ bathroom. Today I’m going to show you how I framed out their mirror. I have never framed out a mirror before so I ended up putting it off in our house for more than two years. After completing one all I have to say is, dude, this is pretty darn easy. Expect me to go on a tangent and frame out all the mirrors in this house over the next month.

I pretty much followed the tutorial from The House of Smiths. I have looked at several dozen framed out mirrors and the frame of hers is my favorite, so I tried to replicate it. I did a few things differently and I’ll get into that below.

To frame out the mirror, I first had to gather my moulding of choice. Shelley used a baseboard and quarter round glued together so I did the same thing. Home Depot didn’t have the same baseboard that Shelley used, so I purchased this one instead:

I also purchased some quarter round to sit on top of the baseboard to create the outer edge of the frame.

Before I headed to Home Depot for my supplies, I measured the mirror and got some rough measurements. This way I could cut my moulding at Home Depot so it would fit better in my car. I added about 6″ or so to each of my measurements and did rough cuts at the store.

When I got home the first thing I did was glue the quarter round to the baseboard. This is one of the steps I did differently than Shelley, but either way works just fine. I glued mine first so that I only had to cut each section once, and also to make sure both pieces of moulding (the baseboard and the quarter round) fit perfectly together with less room for error.

To attach the quarter round, add wood glue to the back then use some painters tape to secure it while it dries. Pay close attention to the outer edge and make sure the quarter round is flush with the baseboard.

Methodically go through and glue all of your pieces together. Notice that I haven’t made any angled cuts around the edges yet.

Here’s a better picture to see exactly how they are attached.

While the tape was still attached to the moulding pieces, I made my 45 degree cuts on either end of each board. This is where they will meet at a 90 degree angle to form the frame. I used a little scrap block on the clamp to protect my moulding from getting damaged from the clamp. Also, in case you are wondering, it is totally okay to cut through the painters tape with your saw.

Once the pieces were cut I laid the frame out on the floor of the garage to make sure it all fit together. Looking great! (I did not attach the frame together beforehand, I just did a dry run).

When you are attaching a frame to a mirror you will be able to see a sliver of reflection of the back of the frame through the mirror. Make sure you paint about 1/2″ of the inner side of the back of your frame before you attach it to the mirror.

While the paint was drying I left the pieces upside down on the floor.

*edited to add: if you have clips on your mirror (as opposed to the mirror being glued to the wall), Remodelaholic did a tutorial showing how to install a frame around this type of mirror.

Normally I attach moulding with a nail gun, but you can’t put a nail gun through a mirror or it will shatter. To attach the frame to the mirror I used Liquid Nails. Don’t forget to remove all the painters tape!

While the Liquid Nails dried I held it on with painter’s tape.

I hope this doesn’t confuse you, but I chose to make my frame extend wider than the outside of the mirror on the right side and the top. I didn’t want to take away too much mirror real estate, so I just made sure that about 1/2 the width of the moulding covered the mirror on both of those pieces. Because my moulding hung off the outer edge of the mirror by about 2″, I used my nail gun on the outer corner of those peices to attach the moulding to the wall. If you do this just be extra careful that you don’t put a nail through your mirror.

I also made sure I had the beadboard added before I attached the mirror so that the beadboard edge would sit under the frame for a cleaner look.

Even though the frame is full of gaps and nail holes that need to be filled and painted, you can already see how great it’s going to look.

I filled all the nail holes with wood putty, and then I filled all the raw seams with caulk. When all that was dry I taped off the inside of the mirror and began painting. My favorite trim paint that I use exclusively on all trim in my house is a Sherwin Williams color called Alabaster. I mostly use semi-gloss.

Because the walls are going to get painted I didn’t bother taping them off.

I know there are dozens of tutorials online for trimming out a mirror, but each is unique and offers different tips. If you want to do this I encourage you to go out and read other tutorials and tackle this project the way you feel most comfortable.

After doing one mirror now, in the future I would most definitely glue my quarter round to my baseboard before cutting. That made it so much easier. However, I would probably glue my frame completely together and paint it before attaching it to the mirror. That way all my corners are perfect and tight. All in all it was an easy project and I am absolutely doing it to the other 4 bathroom mirrors in this house (3 more bathrooms – one with 2 mirrors).

The last several weeks I’ve devoted to getting half-finished projects wrapped up and checked off the to-do list. I’m great at going full steam and starting a project. Finishing the project? NotSoMuch. I’m a 90-percent-er. I get about 90% of the work done and then get distracted with a shiny new fun project. I’m like a dog who sees a squirrel. Totally focused and then all of a sudden,… “SQUIRREL!!”

It’s time to hunker down and get these loose ends wrapped up. Even if I literally die of boredom.

One of the projects that I’ve been putting off for months is finishing hanging chair rail in my family room and breakfast nook. I hung a few random pieces A YEAR ago and then never quite got around to hanging the rest of the moulding. Oops. (See Project #11 on this list.)

Yikes. Well, guess what? I did it. I got er done. It was boring. And it wasn’t as fun as decorating something. But the moulding is hung and painted and… well… it’s done. Hallelujah.

See? Proof. I am the chair rail master. I mastered those chair rails.

I started by using my nail gun to hang all the moulding. Then I used wood putty and filled all the holes. After that I caulked all the edges, and finally, painted it all a semi-gloss white called Alabaster from Sherwin Williams.

For these darn rounded edges I just ended the moulding before the edge. On the staircase wall I cut a piece of chair rail and centered it on the wall.

Here’s the wall totally finished. After I painted the chair rail I went around with my gray touch up paint to make it crisp and clean looking. The gray wall color is called Bedford Gray by Martha Stewart.

I pretty much showed my hand when I shared my fireplace redo. Did you notice the chair rail?

Speaking of fireplace redo, I know that a whole lot of you hate the painted tile. And I just want to say that I don’t love it either. I did this project pretty much for free, and the black tile is better than the ugly beige tile, but it isn’t ideal. I do plan on updating the tile as soon as I want to deal with renting a wet saw. So stay tuned for an update on that. I do still love having a black mantle though.

Anyhoo, here’s another view of the chair rail under the tv. Notice I ended the rail before the rounded edge.

I figured I should paint over my extremely dirty and scuffed up baseboards while I was already sitting on the floor with the trim paint out, so those all got a fresh coat of paint as well.

I’m not much of a taper (haha a tapir. Like the animal. Ben will be proud. It’s his favorite animal.) , but I do tape off the floor when painting baseboards so I’ll have a perfectly crisp line along the floor. Oh, and so the paint doesn’t get all over the carpet.

I know it’s the highlight of your day to look at my dirty and dingy baseboards. What could be more fun than checking out some random bloggers baseboards? I can think of 100 things more fun. But I figure if I had to sit there for hours bored taping and painting them, I might as well bore you for a few minutes by showing you how bored I was. Thanks, I love you too. xoxo

After a year of staring at a half-hung chair rail, I’m thrilled to finally be able to check this little project off the to-do list. My next goal is to finish hanging moulding around all the windows in the house. I only have 9 more windows left until I am totally DONE trimming out all the windows.

So, do you love moulding and trim and chair rail? Or is it just me and Thrifty Decor Chick that can’t get enough of it?

PS I’m guest posting at I am Momma Hear me Roar Tuesday morning. Stop on by and say hi to Cheri. She is so awesome!

It seems I just can’t make up my mind with the configuration of this poor room. It’s plenty big enough to be both a mud room and a laundry room, yet it feels overwhelmingly suffocating at the same time.

Several months ago I got sick of the current placement of the washer and dryer, so I bought a stacking kit and a bunch of new hoses and power cords. The appliances were then moved down the wall about 8′ and stacked.

One thing about making any room in your home work for you is trial and error. And I’ll be the first to admit…

After 5 months of a stacked washer and dryer blocking my window, I was over it. It seemed like a lovely idea at the time, but ideas are much different than reality. After living with this arrangement I quickly realized that maybe the builder really was smarter than me and maybe, just maybe, the original location for the washer and dryer really is the best spot.

So back they went.

And in the process, I have tackled the “mud room” portion of this room once and for all. I am still not finished (or close) but I’ll show you what I’ve done so far and what the overall plan is.

She built this whole set out of ikea furniture for $300. I have been pinning mud rooms for months, but after seeing this version, it was like a lightening bolt hit me. I just knew this was it.

I also want some beadboard in the room, so after scouring blogs and pinterest I came across this kitchen reveal from Saavy Southern Style. Her kitchen reveal itself is amazing, but here’s a close up of what really caught my eye: her installation of beadboard and the topper above it.

So really that’s pretty much the entire plan for the laundry room. I don’t have a paint color picked out yet and I’m not really 100% sure on all the little details, but that’s how I roll. Putting together a full mood board in advance doesn’t work well for me. I like to just have a basic idea in my mind and pull it together as I go.

So I headed to ikea and Home Depot to pick up my supplies. I will give a supply rundown at the bottom of this post.

I bought 4 sheets of beadboard. They come in 4’x8′ sheets, so I had Home Depot cut 3 of the sheets in half. All my wall pannels will be 4′ heigh, plus a topper. I kept one sheet full length because I wanted beadboard to span the entire back of the locker/storage bench section.

The first thing I did was get my full sheet of beadboard in place. Then I cut down a shorter piece and fit it to the right of the full sheet. I needed to get this beadboard next to the window in place before I could trim out the window.

Once the moulding was around the window I could finish hanging all the beadboard.

I haven’t even painted or caulked anything and I am already so excited about how it’s turning out!

Here’s a quick rundown on how to hang beadboard. Cut your beadboard to size. Then take Liquid Nails for panneling and put a bunch on the back of the beadboard. This will help it really stick to the wall.

Here’s exactly what I bought. I found it literally right next to the beadboard on the trim isle.

Once the beadboard is globbed up with glue, slap it on the wall and use a level just to make sure it’s, well… level. I used my already existing baseboards and just set the beadboard right on the top of them.

Now use a hammer and nails or a nail gun and nail the beadboard to the wall. It really helps if you can hit studs.

Easy to install, but still hard work because of all the measuring and cutting.

I did a dry fit of my ikea furniture to see how it was all going to fit. So far I am loving it! You can see the shelves and bench coming together. I also picked up a shoe organizer (the black dresser-looking piece on the right).

Once the beadboard was all cut, glued, hung, and nailed up it was time for that lovely topper I mentioned previously.

Fortunately I had a ton of 4″ wide mdf planks left over from my daughter’s room board and batten, so I used those, then just added a 1/2″x1″ piece of wood on the top to finish it off and create a cute little shelf. I glued both of these peices with liquid nails as well before nailing them to the wall. They aren’t going anywhere.

When I came across the light switch I just cut the mdf to go completely around it. Once it’s all puttied and painted I think it will look pretty darn good.

So here we are. All the board and batten is now hung and the topper is in place. It’s time to now start the tedious process of puttying up all the nail holes, caulking everything, and painting.

And here are 3 out of 4 of the ikea pieces in place (but not yet permanently attached to the wall). I {obviously} need to finish the board and batten to the left of the shelf as well.

Just as soon as I can get the room painted and gussied up, and once the claw hand recovers from said painting, puttying, and caulking, I will show you the next phase. Hopefully tomorrow, but it might be Wednesday.

I am so excited to get this room functional! I am already loving having somewhere to actually SIT when putting on shoes. I can only imagine how wonderful it will be to have hooks on the wall for backpacks too.

Welcome to House of Hepworths! This blog chronicles my journey turning a basic builder-grade house into our custom dream home. I do most of the work myself so I can save a buck or twenty, and I share the process with you to hopefully inspire you to tackle projects in your home. I write about anything related to sprucing up our home, whether it be painting, or hanging moulding, or sewing drapes or duvets. I will occasionally throw in a recipe or two, but only if they are really yummy. To learn more about me, my family, and my blog, visit my "about" page. Scroll down this sidebar to see my most popular posts.

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HoH’s blog policy:

Bloggers/websites may NOT repost my blog content without my express permission. My tutorials belong exclusively on MY blog. They are my intellectual property. I've spent countless hours making these projects and I don’t want them living on someone else's site.

HOWEVER, linking to my project is perfectly fine and I encourage it! Those who link to a project of mine are welcome to take one or two photos and link each photo back to that specific post.